At the recent State of University, President Joseph Aoun revealed the highly anticipated outcome of the student contest to become his first-ever co-op. The position of Global Officer will involve exploring the world for six months to identify new opportunities for students and ways for Northeastern to further its world­wide impact. The president said he was blown away by the impressive applicants and had narrowed the field down to two finalists: Caitlin Morelli, SSH’16, and Matt Bilotti, DMSB’15.

The panel for Wednesday's Women who Inspire Speaker Series event, from left, comprised of moderated Pamela Goldberg, CEO of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and Dr. Vanessa Kerry, CEO of Seed Global Health, Diane Hessan, founder and chair of Communispace Corporation, and Jules Pieri, co-Founder and CEO of The Grommet. Photo by Brooks Canaday

Northeastern convened more than 110 scholars and practitioners from around the world for a conference last week that explored the latest research in social entrepreneurship and the academic, entrepreneurial, and practical experience students gain from immersing themselves in the social enterprise sector. Photo by Brooks Canaday.

On Oct. 16, Northeastern hosted a conference bringing together academics, entrepreneurs, policy experts, and others to discuss the opportunities for and challenges of integrating design into business strategies and practices. Pictured are participants in the first panel, left to right: Tinsley Galyean, founder and principal of Nearlife; Jenna Fizel, programmer and designer, Small Design Firm; Paul Pangaro, co-Founder and CEO, General Cybernetics; and Nathan Felde, professor and chair of the Art + Design Department in Northeastern's College of Arts, Media and Design. Photo by Matthew Modoono.

Entrepreneurship may be one of Northeastern student Toju Ometoruwa’s concentrations in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business, but it was his passion and experience producing music that inspired him to found Pickasound, a cloud-​​based service that allows artists and musicians from across the globe to seamlessly collaborate and produce songs together. For the past two years, Ometoruwa, DMSB’16, has been building his business while working toward his undergraduate degree. Thanks to Northeastern’s co-​​op program, he was able to devote nine months to working on Pickasound full time and has already been successful in attracting outside investment. We asked Ometoruwa to describe his experience starting Pickasound.

Northeastern University recently convened a group of international business experts from universities worldwide to discuss new trends and research in emerging markets. The conference was co-sponsored by the Center for Emerging Markets in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business.

Tiffany Kelley, MS/MBA’08, recognized a need for better tools to help nurses and improve patient care. She set out to fix that problem and founded Nightingale Apps, a health information technology company offering mobile applications aimed at improving safety and increasing efficiency for nurses delivering direct patient care in hospital settings. She is now developing the venture’s initial product, Know My Patient. We asked Kelley to share her inspiration for her business and what she’s learned along the way.

Dan Becker, current MS in Accounting/MBA student at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business, was the winner of our second Whiteboard Innovation Challenge question: What's your biggest transportation challenge and how would you solve it? Dan came up with the solution of "Elevated Bikeways," which would solve his transportation issues in Boston. Watch the video to learn more about Dan's idea.